Shortly after concluding a manhunt for an inmate who had escaped custody the day before, Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office deputies and investigators engaged in a second search Tuesday afternoon for a suspect reported to have stolen a side-by-side.
A homeowner notified HCSO at 3:44 p.m. April 19, 2022, that his side-by-side vehicle had been stolen and he was attempting to pursue the suspect. The owner reported being awakened to the sound of the utility terrain vehicle starting up outside the residence. The keys, he reported were inside his residence. He discovered a white male with a bald head, wearing a black hoody driving the vehicle through the woods, possibly headed toward the oil fields in the area of FM 3505, according to arrest reports.
Deputies converged in the area, identifying tracks consistent with those made by the UTV in pastures and rough terrain impassable for most motor vehicles. Alerted to a possible sighting of the suspect heading into Cooper Lake State Park South Sulphur Unit, deputies followed the track until they caught sight of a male driving what appeared to be the stole UTV behind the restrooms in the Herron Harbor area of CLSP, deputies wrote in arrest reports.
Deputies began pursuing the UTV and male, ordering him to stop evading officers. The suspect reportedly failed to heed the command, instead, driving into terrain impassable to patrol units. A while later, the UTV was found, wrecked in a creek bed. Deputies followed footprints leading away from the area, according to sheriff’s reports.
Officials then were alerted a male, believed to be the suspect in the side-by-side theft, had entered a County Road 4722 residence without consent and took summer sausage that didn’t belong to him. He placed the homeowner’s child in fear; she entered a room away from the suspect and locked the door. The suspect then fled from that residence with the summer sausage, HCSO Sgt. Scott Davis alleged in arrest reports.
Sheriff’s staff continued attempting to track the suspect, dubbed the sausage bandit by at least one pursuer. They were soon alerted another homeowner had located a person believed to be the suspect, and guided deputies along the path the traveled while trying to elude deputies, arrest reports alleged.
Deputies reported spotting the believed suspect and chased him on foot and using a UTV. The man was alleged to be holding an open knife and summer sausage. The man reportedly dropped both items.
HCSO Sgt. Investigator Michael Russell, Sgt. Scott Davis, and Deputies Kevin Lester and Zack Steward took the suspect into custody at 6:27 p.m. Tuesday and transported him to Hopkins County jail. The man, identified in arrest reports as Jacob Tomeis Lyda, was booked into Hopkins County jail at 8:28 p.m. April 19, 2022, for evading arrest with a motor vehicle, theft of property the side-by-side which was valued at $2,500 worth or more but less than $30,000, and two burglary of a habitation charges. The 31-year-old Linden man remained in the county jail Wednesday morning, April 20, 2022, on all four charges, according to arrest reports.
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The Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office is located at 298 Rosemont Sulphur Springs, TX 75482. You can reach them for non-emergency matters at (903) 438-4040.
